Volunteer firefighters heading into borough hall for Wednesday night’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters derailed the planned introduction of a borough budget they said would scuttle a negotiated funding plan for their firehouses Wednesday night.
Carl Colmorgen, a Red Bank school crossing guard who for many years delighted kids and motorists with colorful holiday headwear, died Tuesday. He was 81 years old.
Anne Torre, above, and Ray Mass, below, were reappointed for four-year terms on the zoning board. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank, like nearly all American municipalities, relies on unpaid citizens to help power its local government.
At meetings often held twice a month, the volunteers weigh land-use applications; research ways to help the environment; help organize recreation programs for kids, and lots more.
At last Wednesday’s annual reorganization meeting, the following individuals were nominated by Mayor Billy Portman and/or confirmed by the council to one-year appointments, if not otherwise specified; click the links to see who else is involved.
Fair Haven residents stood in respect along River Road Monday for Ray Taylor (right), an Army veteran of two wars who died January 17 at the age of 99.Â
Bundled up against the cold, hundreds of stoked-for-the-season revelers cheered the return of Holiday Express to downtown Red Bank Friday night.
A partial stage-lighting outage was the only bit of rust as the Tim McLoone-led orchestra played its 28th annual show on Broad Street, after skipping 2020 for the pandemic.
As in the past, the concert and downtown light-up followed a dance performance at the borough train station and Santa parade to the concert stage.Â
Check out redbankgreen‘s photos below to see if you recognize anyone. (Photos by Trish Russoniello and John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
After a one-year pandemic interruption, groups of school children returned to the annual Veterans Day commemoration in Red Bank Thursday.
With poems, songs and handmade ‘thank you’ cards for veterans, students from St. James School, the Red Bank Charter School and Red Bank Middle School participated in the event, held at the Veterans Monument on Monmouth Street – alongside the onetime borough hall.
Men’s Fellowship members of two Red Bank churches – Pilgrim Baptist and Tower Hill Presbyterian – teamed up to prepare the Red Bank Warming Center for the coming winter Saturday.
The event brought together the two houses of worship to make repairs and beautify the Shrewsbury Avenue center, which provides temporary shelter to homeless men when severe weather conditions exist, said Pilgrim’s Pastor Terrence Porter.
The men also spent time together during a BBQ lunch sharing life and faith experiences that helped to foster greater understanding. Â
For more information about the Red Bank Warming Center, or to make a financial donation to help support it, visit the Pilgrim Baptist website or call 732-747-2343.
 (Photos courtesy of Pilgrim Baptist. Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven will participate in a national memorial to lives lost in the COVID-19 pandemic by lighting up Memorial Park with luminaria Tuesday night.
With its announcement of the event Monday, the borough became the first town on the Greater Red Bank Green to join an inauguration-eve event that calls for a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC.
Red Bank Middle School student Aisha Jones, above, and Second Deputy Fire Chief Nick Ferraro were among the participants in the borough’s annual Veterans Day commemoration Wednesday.
Like many other events since March, it was a masked-up gathering because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
YMCA members continue to support food drives at the Red Bank Family YMCA.Â
Press release from Laurie Goganzer, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater Monmouth County
When COVID-19 hit last spring, the YMCA of Greater Monmouth County had to close our doors and lay off 80 percent of our employees. We felt the worry of the uncertainties facing our team, the 35,000 people we serve every day, and our greater community.
But we trusted that our cause to strengthen community would bring us together and make us even stronger as it did in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and in other times of crisis.
Fisk Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fair Haven was the recipient OF an outpouring of community assistance on September 12, when local volunteers helped paint the house of worship.
With the sound of sirens blaring in the distance, residents of Jackson Street joined their neighbors across Fair Haven in giving a noisy, pots-and-pans cheer to healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle Thursday night.
Emergency workers packed the front parking area for the surprise as hospital personnel responded from upper-floor windows. (Photos by Allan Bass. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank-area police and volunteer firefighters delivered a massive surprise cheer to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle at Riverview Medical Center Friday evening.
The borough’s firetrucks, joined by gear from at least nine surrounding towns, twice sounded their horns in unison as staffers left and arrived for a shift change. Several hundred participants, most wearing protective masks, cheered and blew kisses from the parking lot as hospital employees in surgical masks and gowns acknowledged the love from upper floor windows.
Red Bank Fire Chief Scott Calabrese organized the unannounced event, which drew fire, police and first aiders from Fair Haven, Little Silver, Sea Bright, Shrewsbury, Rumson, Middletown, Tinton Falls, Eatontown and Oceanport.
The aim, he said, was “to say ‘thank you for your courage on the front lines of the battle.'”
(See more photos by Allan Bass and John T. Ward, below.)